Christmas Meetings
by brilliant incandescence
Summary: It's Christmas, a time where family it the most important thing to the Weasley/Potter clan and Lily's decided to introduce her boyfriend to them this year. He's immensely scared.


Christmas Meetings

"Come on! Don't be a wimp." Lily said as she tugged on Lysander's hand. He simply shook his head and dug his heels in the icy path leading the way to the Burrow. "Why are you so scared?" Lily asked impatiently, "It's not like you're meeting them for the first time."

"It's the first time I'm meeting them as your boyfriend." He pointed out.

"What difference does it make?"

"It makes all the difference. Your brother's never liked me because he thinks I'm weird, but now, he'll have an even better reason to hate me." He sighed. "I'm no Gryffindor, Lily, I don't think I'm brave enough, nor do I know how to face your family."

"It's not as if I'm dating you because you're a Gryffindor. I'm dating you because I happen to really like you."

"That's not the point I'm trying to make!" He pulled his hand out of hers and began pacing in front of her. Lily couldn't hold back the amused smile trying to overcome her face. "Lily, you're the youngest grandchild of the Weasley family."

"Don't forget about—"

"Liam Lupin does not count. He's a _great_-grandchild."

"What point are you trying to make, then?" She was completely exasperated.

"You're the youngest, Lily. Everyone's looking out for you and consequently, that means that when you bring your first boyfriend home, everyone will feel the need to either threaten or hex him. What makes it worse is that it's Christmas. Christmas means everything to your family. It's not exactly the best time to bring in an 'intruder'."

"And you're not willing to brace a few faces for me? I'm not worth it?" Her voice cracked slightly as the amused smile dropped from her face to be replaced by a cold expression that she used desperately to hide the hurt she was feeling.

"No!" He stepped forward and pulled her into his arms. "Gods, no. That's not what I meant, I just... it's..." He arms tightened around her as she buried her face in his chest.

"What did you mean, then?" Her voice muffled by his jacket.

"I'll be pathetic." He said plain and simply before sighing. "I'll run out of there screaming for my life with all your cousins chasing me, I'd never be able to face you again."

"Ly..."

"I don't want you breaking up with me once you realize that you could do so much better than me." He buried his face in her hair. "You could probably find some Gryffindor actually adept at Quidditch that will get all the inside jokes your family has because your family will actually like them enough to include them."

"What's this about?" Lily's grip on his loosened so that she could look in his eyes. "This isn't just about how my cousins will want to hex you. You know I don't care about houses and my family doesn't either."

"I heat things, okay?" He pulled away and turned his head so he didn't have to look at her. "Your dorm mates, they think you can do better than the son of Loony Lovegood, a lanky animal crazed Ravenclaw who seems to have an unnatural talent of hiding and blending in." He said slightly bitterly. "If your dorm mates don't like me, how do you expect me to believe that your family could possibly like me?"

Lily grabbed his face with both her hands and made him look at her. "I love _you_. I couldn't care less about what my dorm mates think of you. All that matters is that I think you're perfect. They'll love you because I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life in your arms. If they can't accept that, then they're not the family I them to be." She bit her lip once she finished speaking. She'd never revealed how deep her feelings for him were before because she'd feared that he'd only thought of her as one step closer to finding 'the one'. There were times hwen she thought that he returned her sentiments, but she couldn't deny that she had insecurities as well. She knew just as Lysander knew that her dorm mates didn't like him. They openly talked about how they thought the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain was much more suitable for her. This simply reminded her of the fact that Lysander could just as easily drop her and go after the muggleborn Ravenclaw Head Girl that loved animals of all kind. She was rumoured to have a crush on him anyway. She needn't have worried though,

"I love you too." He told her once he'd processed what she said. "I don't ever want to lose you." He gave her a heart-warming kiss and intertwined their hands. "Come on, we'll be late." He gave her a smile and pulled her along.

"Did I mention that they don't know I'm bringing you over?" He froze in his spot.

"You didn't tell them?"

"Only Grandma and Hugo. I don't think anyone else is even aware that I have a boyfriend."

"Why didn't you tell them?"

"It didn't feel right to tell them through a letter. We haven't been dating for a long time, but I know how much you meant to me. I didn't seem right to just announced that I've found who I want to be with in a letter."

"Alright," he placed an arm around her shoulders. "No use backing out now." He squeezed her shoulder and led her toward the Burrow. "What'd you tell your parents to get out of the house to come get me?"

"I told them that I realized that I forgot to send one of my friends their gift."

"Couldn't you have just sent it via owl?"

"Well yeah, but I told them that if I brought it over in person, I'd get to apologize in person." Lysander gave her an incredulous look before she stepped up and rapped on the door politely before opening it and entering the chaos of the Burrow.

_~xxx~_

"Aunt Ginny..." Rose called from her seat next to Scorpius watching Hugo and Albus battle it out over the chessboard. Her aunts and uncles were seated in the kitchen as her cousins and their other halves were scattered around everywhere else. Something was wrong though, lily was nowhere in sight.

"What is it Rose?"

"Where's Lily?" Everyone had tuned intot he conversation now, though most were berating themselves for not noticing her absence earlier.

"She said she forgot to send a gift to someone and insisted she go in person to apologize."

"Oh, Ginny..." Molly stepped forward as she dried her hands on a dish rag. "Do you knew when that boyfriend of hers is coming over?"

Everyone froze (except for Hugo) and started muttering under their breaths. "Mum, Lily doesn't have a boyfriend."

"She does." Molly protested. "She told me that she does!"

"Mum... Lily's never mentioned..." Ginny tried desperately to calm her down. They had all thought that Molly was fine, she may have aged a bit, but she was just as sharp as ever.

"Aunt Ginny..." Hugo stepped forward. "Grandmum's not lying, Lily really does have a boyfriend. She was planning on introducing him to everyone today."

A chorus of 'what's' were heard. "How could this...? Hugo! You swore the oath!" James glared at his younger cousin. The oath was something all male members of the Weasley/Potter clan swore to. It meant that when any male member found out about a new relation of a female member, they were supposed to immediately report to everyone who swore the oath so that they could band together and threaten him into submission (agreeing not to hurt the girl).

"I swore the oath specifically leaving Lily out." Hugo glared back. "S'not my fault you never realized."

"Hugo!" James was aghast. "How could you betray the oath like this?"

"Easy." Hugo shrugged. "Lily's scarier than you are."

"My little sister is not scarier than I am."

"Contrary to popular belief, she—"

"Hush, you two." Molly intervened. "It doesn't matter now, you'll meet him soon enough."

"Who is he?" James asked, arms crossed in front of his chest.

"I—" But Hugo was saved from answering because a swift knocking was heard before the door opened to reveal Lily pulled her boyfriend in behind her.

"Hello everyone!" she called as her boyfriend helped slip her jacket off her shoulders and hang it up. 

"Lily, dear!" Molly rushed forward to hug her granddaughter.

"Happy Christmas, Grandma!" Lily grinned as she noticed everyone looking warily at the boy behind her who was no doubt keeping his back to them and taking a painstakingly long time to take off his jacket. Just as Lysander turned around, Molly enveloped him in a hug.

"Merry Christmas, Mrs, Weasley," was all he managed out before he felt all the air inside him being squeezed out of him.

"I'm so glad to finally see you two come to your senses." Molly patted his back once more before stepping away so that the rest of the family could get a good look at Lily's new boyfriend.

"YES!" Albus screamed and started dancing around the room. "I told you so! I told you so!" He pointed at his cousins as he continued his happy dance. "I win! I win!" He stopped and grinned cheekily at his gobsmacked cousins. "I have enough to get that cauldron custom made." He couldn't hold back his joy. He sighed happily before settling back into his seat.

"You bet on us?" Lily's eyes flashed.

"We bet on everything, Lily. I thought that you'd have learned that by now." Fred stood up and fished a few coins out of his pocket. "I'm disappointed in you, Lily, why couldn't you have waited until your graduation to announce it to the family? You're a year and a half early." He paused to toss the coins to Albus. "I'm a bit short, I'll get the rest to you later." Albus nodded his consent as he counted the coins now being passed to him. "So, whwo wants to be the first one to explain to Lysander how much pain he'll be in by the end of tonight?" James stood up, but his father beat him to it.

"I believe I get the honours." Harry stepped forward and patted Lysander on the back. "Come on, we'll just step outside for a minute." He blatantly ignored Lily's cry of 'Dad!'.

Lysander nodded, feeling surprisingly calm. He didn't think that Harry would hex him.

"I think you fully expect what I'm going to say, don't you?"

"Something along the lines of you'll kill me if I hurt her?"

"Something like that, yeah." Harry smiled ruefully. "I can't say that I didn't see this coming though. Your mother said that your wrackspurts seemed to like each other quite well when you two were still toddlers. Not to mention the fact that you seemed to enjoy staring at her when Luna asked Ginny to babysit for a while. She'd drop you off and you'd just crawl in front of Lily and sit there staring at her while you sucked on your thumb."

"I..." Lysander turned red. "I did what?"

"Ginny actually said that it was kind of cute. I didn't agree." Harry shrugged. "Most of us had bets on when you two would get together though. Of course, I don't know how Al won. The boy's too perceptive for his own good."

"So... you're okay with us?"

"Lysander," Harry placed a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. "I know you're a good kid, and Lily seems to really like you, so that's a few points in your favour. Trust me when I say that if I wasn't okay with you two, you wouldn't be standing here right now. Besides, if you can survive the rest of the night with all those people inside that house trying to protect my daughter's virtue, you have my full blessing to date my daughter." Lysander gave Harry a strained smile at the reminder of what he had to face later on. "Just promise me that you two won't go too fast." Harry ran a hand through his hair. "I don't want to have to let her go right after her graduation."

"She'd still—"

"I know, but promise anyway?"

"I promise."

"Great." Harry clapped his hands together. "Let's head back inside before Molly puts out the food, yeah? We'll never get any otherwise." Lysander nodded as he turned around. "Lysander?" Harry called again. "I think you'll fit into this family just fine."

"Thanks." Lysander smiled genuinely. It was quite possibly the biggest compliment he could have ever gotten.

_~xxx~_

_So yes, I realize that I'm a bit late (or a lot late) for the whole Christmas thing. I've had this idea since _before_ Christmas, but it's taken me so long to get it down, so I apologize for the poor timing on my part. I hope you liked it. It's my first time actually writing and posting a pairing, so I hope it hasn't turned out incredibly horrible. _


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